Handcrafting a vibrant Arab world

Month: January 2016

For hundreds of years, books have been a wonderful resource to bring to light new views.

So it’s no surprise that if you want to expose children to Islam, it’s best to turn to books at an early age.

The following eight children books do a great job of introducing remarkable Muslims from times past and modern society. I would recommend them as a must for any children’s library, not just ones in Muslim homes, to expose children to the rich, vast civilization of Islam.

The Muslims in these books were pioneers that greatly impacted the world. I took some books from an old list I created back in 2010 ofChildren’s Books about/for Arab Children, but have expanded on it to include newly published books.

I am an Amazon affiliate member and you can find my list of books here. Feel free to buy any of these books there and shukran (Arabic for thank you) for continuing to support my research.

xxx

Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words
by Karen Leggett Abouraya
The inspiring, true story of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl
who stands up and speaks out for every child’s right to education.
Though she and two of her schoolmates were targeted by a Taliban gunman,
a life-threatening injury only strengthened her resolve. Malala spoke
at the U.N. on her 16th birthday in 2013, nine months after she was
shot. Author and journalist Karen Leggett Abouraya, author of Hands
Around the Library: Protecting Egypt’s Treasured Books, brings Malala’s
story to life for young readers. Malala’s story is more than a biography
of a brave and outspoken teenager. It is a testament to the power of
education to change the world for boys and girls everywhere. “Winner of
the California Reading Association’s 2015 EUREKA! Honor Award”

Al-Ghazali
By Demi
The importance of al-Ghazali in the intellectual and spiritual history
of both the Western and Islamic world cannot be too highly estimated. He
is considered to be the savior of Islam because in his 40-volume opus
magnum, The Revival of the Religion Sciences, he clarifies the
spiritual meanings and inner purposes of every aspect of the Islamic
faith. This book, an illustrated biography for both parents and
children—with adjacent text for both—presents this inspiring life with
exquisite miniatures in the Persian style. The biography covers his
humble birth and education, rise to fame, spiritual crisis, and
subsequent journeying to find the Truth in Syria, Palestine, and Mecca
before returning home, having purified his heart. The text is distilled
from his own autobiography, Deliverance from Error, written in the 11th century CE and from other scholarly biographies.

My Prophet Muhammad (S) By Yasmin Mussa
My Prophet Muhammad (S) encapsulates the timeless story of the life of
the best and final Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (S). Designed for early
childhood, this rendering of the Seerah serves as an ideal first
acquaintance with the miraculous story of Allah s finest creation. With
its vivid illustrations and appropriately rendered authorship, this book
is designed to increase your child s knowledge, appreciation and love
for the Prophet Muhammad (S). My Prophet Muhammad (S) is a picture board
book, containing 24 pages, a soft sponge cover with special glitter,
varnish and metallic shine effects.

1001 Inventions and Awesome Facts from Muslim Civilization By National Geographic
We often think that people from a
thousand years ago were living in the Dark Ages. But from the 7th
century onward in Muslim civilization there were amazing advances and
inventions that still influence our everyday lives. People living in the
Muslim world saw what the Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, Greek, and
Romans had discovered and spent the next one thousand years adding new
developments and ideas. Inventors created marvels like the elephant
water clock, explorers drew detailed maps of the world, women made
scientific breakthroughs and founded universities, architects built huge
domes larger than anywhere else on earth, astronomers mapped the stars
and so much more! This book takes the wining formula of facts, photos,
and fun, and applies it to this companion book to the 1001 Inventions
exhibit from the Foundation for Science, Technology, and Civilization.
Each page is packed with information on this little-known history, but
also shows how it still applies to our world today.

Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X
By Ilyasah Shabazz
Malcolm X grew to be one of America’s most
influential figures. But first, he was a boy named Malcolm Little.
Written by his daughter, this inspiring picture book biography
celebrates a vision of freedom and justice.

Bolstered
by the love and wisdom of his large, warm family, young Malcolm Little
was a natural born leader. But when confronted with intolerance and a
series of tragedies, Malcolm’s optimism and faith were threatened. He
had to learn how to be strong and how to hold on to his individuality.
He had to learn self-reliance.

Together with acclaimed
illustrator AG Ford, Ilyasah Shabazz gives us a unique glimpse into the
childhood of her father, Malcolm X, with a lyrical story that carries a
message that resonates still today—that we must all strive to live to
our highest potential.

The Amazing Discoveries of Ibn Sina
By Fatima Sharafeddine
Born in Persia more than a thousand years ago, Ibn Sina was one of the
greatest thinkers of his time — a philosopher, scientist and physician
who made significant discoveries, especially in the field of medicine,
and wrote more than one hundred books. As a child, Ibn Sina was
extremely bright, a voracious reader who loved to learn and was
fortunate to have the best teachers. He memorized the Qur’an by the age
of ten and completed his medical studies at sixteen. He spent his life
traveling, treating the sick, seeking knowledge through research, and
writing about his discoveries. He came up with new theories in the
fields of physics, chemistry, astronomy and education. His most famous
work is The Canon of Medicine, a collection of books that were used for
teaching in universities across the Islamic world and Europe for
centuries. Ibn Sina’s story, told in the first person and beautifully
illustrated, provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of the
great intellects of the past.

Saladin: Noble Prince of Islam By Diane Stanley
Forty years before the boy was born, a horde of bloodthirsty barbarians thundered out of the west and conquered his native land. They had succeeded because his people, ever at war with one another, had not fought together to defend their cities. In time the boy was destined to become the very leader that was needed, a man with the courage and vision to unite his people and face the most fearsome and brilliant warrior of the age.

The time was the twelfth century; the barbarian horde was the armies of the First Crusade; the great warrior was Richard the Lionhearted; and the leader was Saladin. This is more than the other side of a familiar Western story, the Crusades. It is the tale of an extraordinary man, remarkable for his generous and chivalrous ways, a warrior who longed for peace. Courageous in battle and merciful in victory, he would be revered even by his enemies as the “marvel of his time.”

In her vibrant narrative and magnificently detailed illustrations inspired by the Islamic art of the time, Diane Stanley presents a hero whose compassion, piety, tolerance, and wisdom made him a model for his time — and for ours.

Since I’ve started selling at the Handmade Showroom, I’ve enjoyed coming up with different quilled art designs. I just finished gluing down the final circles in this Quilled Decagram.

In October, I made a eight pointed star, do I thought I would tackle a ten pointed star, a decagram.

I started with an outside. Each bend of the star was outlined with a dark blue quilled strip that was measured and hand cut to size.

Once that dried and set, I made the filling. I made 33 red loose coils, 33 tight red coils, 33 loose orange coils, 33 tight orange coils, 33 yellow loose coils, and you guessed it, 33 yellow tight coils. This gaves the piece a total of 99 tight coils and 99 loose coils*.

Here they are pictured in a fun designed I placed them in while I was making them on my desk. And it has given me an idea for the next quilled project!

Originally I made green triangles for the center, but my family (and the online community) was so so on the idea. That is why there are green triangles in the heart above. Here is the original design. (Bonus tip – the dark blue circles were made by wrapping a strip around my quilling tool and then gluing down.) Here is everything before anything is glued in.

Since then I’ve decided to remove the green and add a flower to the center for a warmer feeling. The body of the flower is 3 dimensional, which makes it look really exceptional in the shadow box. To make the flower, I started with a small strip of red and a precut strip of pink.

I quilled my red into a tight coil and keep it on my tool, then added the pink, gluing down at the joint. I then coiled the pink, and taking off both from my tool before the final gluing. I took the circle you can see in the middle of the photo above and glued the flower inside that to give it stability. (Bonus tip – I created that solid blue circle originally by wrapping my paper around my glue bottle.)

I’ve set up another informal online poll on my Instagram account to see if people like the pink flower. Some have suggested leaving it off.

I have a few days to decide before I take it into Seattle for sale. I’ve finally found a perfect white frame for it and have taught myself how to mat cut so I can do my own framing at home.

*99 is a significant number in Islam as it’s the number of names that God posses. I’ve been doing a number of 99 projects lately that you should check out.

Worldwide, there are a number of people who are disappointed that the Academy Awards in 2016 will yet again be a sea of white faces with no minorities in any of the major categories. However, despite the lack of diversity at the top, there is some exciting news in other nominations.

I was thrilled to find out that movies Theeb ذيب and Ave Maria السلام عليك يا مريم have been nominated to represent Arab film at this year’s Hollywood award ceremony.

Theeb is a 2014 Jordanian Arabic-language film written and directed by Naji Abu Nowar and is nominated for a Best Foreign Film. It is the first time a movie from Jordan has been nominated.

Ave Maria is a short film out of Palestine, France and Germany and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

Alif Mabrouk (1,000 Congratulations in Arabic) and good luck to them both on February 28th in bringing home their Oscars!

While war rages in the Ottoman Empire, Hussein raises his younger brother Theeb (“Wolf”) in a traditional, yet isolated, Bedouin community. The brothers’ quiet existence is interrupted when a British officer and his guide ask Hussein to escort them to a water well. Theeb secretly chases, but the group soon find themselves trapped amidst threatening terrain riddled with mercenaries, revolutionaries, and outcast raiders. Naji Abu Nowar’s powerful and assured directorial debut is a wondrous “Bedouin Western” about a boy who, in order to survive, must become a man and live up to the name his father gave him.

The
silent routine of 5 Palestinian nuns in the middle of the West Bank
wilderness is disrupted when a family of Israeli settlers come knocking
at their door for help after crashing into the convent’s wall.
The Israelis can’t operate a phone to call for assistance due to the
Sabbath laws, and the Nuns have taken a vow of silence. Together they
have to come up with an unorthodox plan to help them get home.